WestConn event shows benefits of tai chi, chi kung

Published 1:00 am, Sunday, April 30, 2006

DANBURY - Some 60 practitioners of the Chinese arts of tai chi and chi kung turned out on Saturday to join in a worldwide moment.

On the Midtown campus of
Western Connecticut State University
, they took part in World Tai Chi and Chi Kung Day at 10 a.m.
"This is in conjunction with World Health Day through the United Nations and the World Health Organization," said
Ellen Hollenbeck
, an adjunct professor at the university. "It started at 10 a.m. in New Zealand and continues in over 60 countries at 10 a.m., according to each country's local time zone. That way it creates a wave of healing energy around the world. It ends in Hawaii."
Hollenbeck teaches tai chi and chi kung at WestConn and had been working with three classes, totaling some 60 students, in preparation for Saturday's event.
"It started eight years ago," Hollenbeck said. "There's lots of people doing this."
Chi kung is a mind, body and spiritual exercise. Its beginnings are traced 4,000 years ago in the roots of Chinese medicine. It was the predecessor of tai chi, which is 1,000 years old in practice.
The morning was cool, with a slight breeze blowing Saturday. And the movements of those participating were slow and graceful in the bright April sun. A hush fell over the campus as they slowly moved their heads, then arms, then upper bodies. There was a stillness and peacefulness about the gathering.
The movements had colorful names. There was "opening the gates of life," "moving the donkey," and "hugging the tree."
"Most people think of tai chi as being an old person's exercise, but here at WestConn, we have young people learning the benefits of it for life," Hollenbeck said.
WestConn freshman

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Dan Kowalsky
, 18, took part. At first he took the classes to fulfill a degree requirement. But he soon found the experience to be "very relaxing" and moved gracefully through the exercise.
Senior
Jodi Olmstead
, 23, studies Chinese culture and plans to travel to China after graduation.
"This seemed like an important part of Chinese culture to understand," Olmstead said. "It's part of their religion and Chinese life is all about religion."
Olmstead found the techniques of tai chi and chi kung relaxing. She practices at home, and has been taking classes two times a week since February.
"When we do meditation days, it's the most relaxing," she said. "I do this at home and it works."
Chi kung exercises have a reputation in China for aiding in the treatment of heart disease, high blood pressure, pulmonary emphysema, arthritis and many other illnesses and disorders, Hollenbeck explained.
For WestConn sophomore
Melissa Landis
, tai chi and chi kung are important for their relationship to the martial arts.
"They have certain moves that your can use to protect yourself," Landis said. "Professor Hollenbeck explained those to us."
Landis and freshman
Courtney Soldati
took the class together in preparation for Saturday.
"This was the first time we did it with everyone," Soldati said. "It was really something."